This-essay is a8009011.htm which is available at the web-site www.essayz.com. See more notes at the bottom. Previous-Essay <== This-Essay ==> Following-Essay By-Months By-Years By-Words Webs of Like-&-Un-Like ESSAYS <==> Like-&-UN-Like This-One ========================================================== %ULTERIOR MOTIVES FOR BEHAVIOR 800901 Behaviorists contend that only behavior is real. They fail to take seriously the way in which human beings behave deceitfully for ulterior motives, so that their behavior will be taken to mean other than it apparently means. A behaviorist watching deceitful behavior will be more likely to be deceived than a non-behaviorist who takes seriously the reality of human desires, intentions, goals, etc. When pushed to the wall the behaviorist will probably say that one must consider the whole pattern of human behavior in order to understand particular portions of the behavior. In this way deceitful behavior would be exposed. Their problem is to find economical ways to think about and talk about deceitful behavior without constructing non-objective realities such as human desires, intentions, goals, etc. in terms of which to understand objective behavior. What advantage do behaviorists gain by refusing to deal in higher levels of reality? Can they better understand persons by focusing exclusively upon behavior? We know from personal experience that we often behave in deceptive ways; we intend that our behavior mislead observers. We intend that our intentions be concealed. While our intentions are real to us, we do not want them to be evident to others, and we behave in ways to conceal our intentions. We behave in ways intended to conceal our desires, fears, hopes, plans, etc. Such private realities we conceal behind behaviors intended to make it look like we are simple, rather than complex. People differ in their skills of deception. Some people's behavior is transparent, others often conceal the realities which occasion their behaviors. The more technocratic a society is---the greater is the tendency for individuals to resort to deceptive behavior---intentionally making it appear to technocrats that their behavior is simple, without ulterior motive. In this way technocrats are pleased to confirm their convictions that human behavior is the ultimate personal reality, that it is unnecessary to understand personal behavior in terms of subjective personal realities which are not open to direct objective observation. Behaviorists thus occasion alienation and concealment of private subjective realities---which they contend are not real. (c) 2005 by Paul A. Smith in www.essayz.com Search for Integrity and Honesty (On Being Yourself, Whole and Healthy) ==========================================================
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